A lot has changed in 10 years at the bet365 Stadium, which was just the one-corned Britannia Stadium back then, as Stoke were fighting to establish themselves back in the top flight after a dramatic promotion season.

A promising autumn, when Tony Pulis's side went on a run of four wins in seven games - including earning the scalps of Tottenham and Arsenal - was followed by a hard winter. A run of 11 matches without a win even featured a League Cup home defeat to Derby.

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But Pulis struck gold twice in a crucial January transfer window, bringing in Matthew Etherington and James Beattie from West Ham and Sheffield United respecitively.

Both would combine to brilliant effect in the final game of that month, a 1-0 home win against Mark Hughes's big-spending Manchester City despite a red card to Boothen End hero Rory Delap. The ear-shattering noise produced that day is still remembered as the peak of a very noisy time.

We have gone back through the men involved that day, in front of a 27,236 crowd, to see what they are doing now.

Manager - Tony Pulis

“It wasn’t just the 10 players, but the 28,000 people in the stadium," he said at the time. "Every tackle and every pass we made was roared on by our fans, who were absolutely magnificent.

“I don’t care what people say, nobody else has got that up and down the country. The players deserve the three points, but so do the supporters for their support. There’s no other ground in the country that gets behind their players like our supporters do.”

Tony Pulis on the sidelines during a 1-0 win over Manchester City in January 2009. (Image: Steve Bould)

Stoke did stay up, of course, reached the FA Cup final in 2011 and last 32 of the Europa League in 2012 before it seemed to flatline. Pulis left by mutual consent in 2013.

He has since managed Crystal Palace and West Brom before landing at Stoke's now Championship rivals Middlesbrough.

In fact, he was asked about that FA Cup final by GazetteLive just yesterday: "It’s one of (the highlights of my career). I’ve been promoted out of every league, been to an FA Cup final, got to the latter stages of the UEFA Cup when we played Valencia, they were all great games.

“Taking a team out at Wembley to a boy that was born in the 50s was massive, to walk through the tunnel and take your team out... but we lost and I’ve never watched the game back because we lost.

“I can remember the chance that Kenwyne (Jones) missed, I remember us not having our best team because we had a couple of injuries to very, very important players before that game and that was when Manchester City were the best team in England. Under (Roberto) Mancini they were young, they were ambitious, they’d beaten Manchester United in the semi-final.

“The only things I can remember is their goal, Yaya Toure scoring it, and Kenwyne going through one-on-one, it was 0-0 at the time and if we’d scored we could have got something out of the game.”

Thomas Sorensen

An outstanding free recruit after Stoke had been chasing Scott Carson from Liverpool and toyed with Sunderland's Marton Fulop, who died tragically at the age of 32 in 2015.

A penalty-saving expert, he was first choice for the best part of three seasons before passing on the gloves to Asmir Begovic. He left Stoke in 2015 to spend two years with Melbourne City in Australia.

In retirement, the Denmark legend, aged 42, has jumped on his bicycle for ultra marathons to raise money for charity and has stayed in Australia, where he now works as a commentator for television and radio.

Thomas Sorensen has stayed in Australia to work as a football pundit. (Image: TSorensen1/Twitter)

Andy Wilkinson

Lion-hearted full-back who played 194 matches for Stoke City over 14 years against 55 different teams in five different countries, under five different managers with 125 different teammates.

Stoke were fifth in the third tier with a transfer record of £600,000 when Wilkinson made his debut and 10th in the Premier League when he turned out for last time in January 2015 and an injury-enforced premature retirement.

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Those games included 123 in the Premier League and that FA Cup final - a long way from playing in front of 2,369 for a League Cup tie at Rochdale in 2007.

Still loved by supporters, the 34-year-old is back as a respected coach in the club's Academy, working alongside Kevin Russell, Gareth Jennings and Rich Walker.

Andy Wilkinson scores in front of the Boothen End in his testimonial match.

Danny Pugh

Filled a host of positions during four years at Stoke, including a man-of-the-match turn in central midfield in a televised FA Cup match against Newcastle Utd while the club was still in the Championship - and scoring at Thun in the Europa League.

Still playing at the age of 36, across the city at Port Vale in League Two, where he also helps Neil Aspin with coaching.

Port Vale player coach Danny Pugh with manager Neil Aspin

Ryan Shawcross

Only 21 then but already at the heart of that Stoke defence. Appointed captain the following year and now 10th in the club's all-time appearances roll of honour.

“When you join a club you don’t expect to be here as long as I have been," he said. "I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. There have been a lot of ups and downs and times when I’ve not played and times when I’ve played really well.

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“It’s just a case of taking a step back, realising what you’ve achieved and also that there is a lot more to come. I’m delighted to get into that top 10 but there’s a lot more work to be done with the team and, hopefully, with me."

A colossus for most of the last decade, he was brilliant again in a 2-1 win over Leeds United last weekend in the middle of a three-man back line.

Abdoulaye Faye

Player of the year that season and a contender for one of Stoke's all-time most important signings, a steal for £2.25m from Newcastle Utd. Faye had only been at Newcastle for 12 months - and a goalless draw in the FA Cup at Stoke had been one of his 24 appearances.

Pulis said: “Anyone who saw him that day will know why he’s attracted us. He’s a big lad who has plenty of experience at Premier League level in such an important area of the pitch. He wants to move back to the North West and that has been a help in trying to get him here.”

Stoke didn't manage to get a work permit in time for him to play on opening day against Bolton - who had let him join his old boss Sam Allardyce for £2m in 2007. But it did land in time for the first home game, against Aston Villa, and that set the tone for what was to follow over the next few months.

He was extraordinary.

Stoke City hung a huge mosaic of Abdoulaye Faye on the side of the Britannia Stadium in April 2010. It was removed after wind damage in late 2015.

So good, he was plastered on the side of the stadium in a giant mural next to Sir Stanley Matthews - and it's never quite been the same since he blew off.

“For six to eight months in Abdoulaye’s first season he was up there with Nemanja Vidic as the best centre-back in the Premier League, he was unreal,” said Shawcross. “Some of the displays he put in that year were sensational. He was almost single-handedly keeping us up.

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“Then he went away that summer … and found food! He came back about 10kg heavier. He was never quite the same. We quickly got Robert Huth in and he was great but I will never forget how good Abdy was in that first season we were in the top flight.”

Faye, now aged 40, is still based in the North West and his son Babacar has signed for Manchester United's Academy. He helps run a management agency which focuses on players from Senegal and France.

Glenn Whelan

Still a terrier at 35, Whelan is playing in midfield for Stoke's Championship rivals Aston Villa.

He was the heartbeat of the squad for nine years from 2008, a straight-talking vice-captain for the most part who even stood up to Abdoulaye Faye when he thought he wasn't taking a warm-up seriously enough.

There were memorable winners at Tottenham and Villa but probably best summed up by a diving header tackle when under the cosh with 10 men against Southampton in his final season.

Amdy Faye

Arrived in a double-Faye swoop alongside Senegal teammate Abdoulaye in the summer of 2008 and made 23 appearances for the club in all before joining Leeds a couple of years later.

He was brought to England from Auxerre by Harry Redknapp at Portsmouth, who said: "I stopped him flying back to France (with other clubs interested after a trial)... and insisted. ‘You have to sign for Portsmouth first. Come with me.’

"I took him to my house and he heard the dogs barking. ‘Dogs! I no like dogs,’ he said and he froze. ‘They’re not dogs, Amdy,’ I assured him. ‘They’re bulldogs. They’re more vicious than dogs. Half-dog, half-bull. If you try to escape, they bite your b***s off.’

"The next day he signed for £1.5m."

Faye hung up his boots in 2011 and has been a pundit on the Senegal national team.

Rory Delap

Sent off that day against Manchester City by Martin Atkinson. The referee should have stopped play for an earlier foul by Shaun Wright-Phillips, who should also have been sent off for retaliation, but few could really quarrel with Delap’s dismissal for booting the ball into the winger’s unmentionables.

Wright-Phillips was subsequently given a retrospective three-match ban.

Delap remained a key man at Stoke City for another three years and is now back at the club as a first team coach.

He had been coaching in the Academy at Derby, where his son Liam has won England youth recognition, before he was brought home by Gary Rowett last summer. Now 42, he stayed put to work under Nathan Jones, who has known him since their early playing days in the 1990s.

Matthew Etherington

The 37-year-old is now a youth coach at his first club Peterborough United, as well as pundit.

Peter Crouch has explained how the left winger was always a favourite under Pulis, saying: “(Etherington) used to hate the attention he’d get as the lads would wind him up.

“To be fair, if he was sitting here now he’d say the same about me. We used to sit together on the bus. He wouldn’t have to train sometimes under Tony Pulis… but neither did I to be honest.

“What Tony Pulis was very good at was if you were doing well for him, he was fantastic with you. He’d always look after me because I was doing all right and it was the same with Matthew Etherington – and I think with Matty it was a little bit more special than it was with me.

Stoke City January recruits Matthew Etherington, right, and James Beattie. (Image: Tom Dulat)

“He used to give him a big coat and say, ‘Don’t train today you’re too important.’ He would literally give him a big coat and let him watch training. Yes, he got abused. The odd time I had it as well so after that I calmed the amount of stick.

“If you’re not doing it for Tony Pulis, he’ll let you know but if you’re are he’ll put a big coat on you.”

Ricardo Fuller

Magical striker stayed at Stoke until 2012 and has now, at the age of 39, come out of retirement to sign for Nantwich Town, who are chasing promotion to National League North.

Ricardo Fuller shakes on a deal with Nantwich Town boss Dave Cooke.

He's a Stoke fan himself these days, watching on from the West Stand, and told Stoke-on-TrentLive: “I’m still involved in football, playing at the Powerleague up to three times a week and I also play in a number of charity matches.

“I just love playing football, so when Nantwich Town offered me the opportunity to sample that matchday atmosphere again, I thought, yes, why not. I just hope my arrival and promotion is the icing on the cake for Nantwich. I will be certainly doing all I can to help them make that next step up.”

James Beattie

A brilliant header from Etherington's cross won Stoke three points against Man City. He would score seven goals before the end of that season to help secure a mid-table finish.

Fell out of form and favour the following term - and had a well-publicised falling out with Pulis - before leaving for Rangers, Sheffield Utd and Accrington Stanley, where he briefly took the reins as manager.

A coach these days, aged 40, working alongside Garry Monk at Birmingham City.

James Beattie heads in a cross from Matthew Etherington to help Stoke beat Man City. (Image: Steve Bould)

James Beattie was an instrumental January signing for Stoke in 2009. (Image: Steve Bould)

SUBSTITUTES

Andy Griffin (for Amdy Faye, 78)

Then Stoke captain had returned to the club to help win promotion to the Premier League.

He later had spells with Doncaster and Reading and now, aged 39, runs the Andy Griffin Football Academy at Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group.

Ibrahima Sonko (for Etherington, 86)

Stayed on the fringes during his time at Stoke after joining in 2008, making 17 appearances over three seasons.

Spent last summer on a charity visit to Uganda alongside Emmanuel Eboue, which included a trip to the Uganda Revenue Authority, which he urged to invest in football facilities - and reminded people to file their taxes.

Richard Cresswell (for Fuller, 46)

Enthusiastic forward who put in shift after shift at left wing under Pulis, chipping in with some crucial goals along the way.

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He played for Sheffield Utd and York before hanging up his boots. Now a 41-year-old coach, he became Head of Academy coaching at Leeds Utd last summer.

REFEREE

Martin Atkinson

A rare benefit of relegation from the Premier League is not having to suffer Atkinson.

He was responsible for a fifth of Stoke's red cards in the top flight and never sent off an opponent, letting off players including Wright-Phillips, Phil Jagielka and Simon Mignolet for offences that would, it can be said with some certainty, have resulted in dismissals if they had been playing for Stoke.

His last act was to incorrectly let a vital Everton goal stand in a defeat for Stoke last March. He told players he was '100 per cent right' and that he and his assistants were 'very good at their jobs', although they missed a clear offside.

Now aged 47 and his performances and status were regularly highlighted as one of the reasons England had no refereeing presence at last summer's World Cup.

OPPOSITION MANAGER

Mark Hughes

“Good players need space,” said Hughes that day, “and we were not given any.”

Mark Hughes in the Manchester City dug-out as his side are beaten 1-0 by Stoke City in January 2009. (Image: Steve Bould)

Ultimately replaced Pulis in the right dug-out in 2013 and enjoyed the atmosphere on his side for three memorable years before it started to go memorably sour.

Left before relegation last season and wound up at Southampton, where he was sacked eight months later. Now aged 55 and looking for a new chapter.